Not too long ago there once was more than 20 LCD/memory mfg shops. One closed after another due to price war.. or was it someone was short selling in the market to make a fake price war? Does anyone fault big brands that "play" their supplier by pulling out on their purchase after the supplier set up foundry to meet demand? And what bout Opec? Anyone go after them for price fixing? Or trade unions who fixes price of labour? And who to blame if the endless "price war" results in last man standing is the king maker? At the end each has to answer for ROI. Price fixing is good go talk to Opec. They do not need to sue each other or wage war due to price war.

The cost of an LCD foundry is $5 billion or so (correct me if wrong). That includes 10 years of loss before breaking even, if lucky.

These foundries are supported by governments. The United States and Europe have zero ability to make LCD panels.

They have the LCD foundries. They have the choice in what they will charge. There is no local competition that can be harmed by uncompetitive actions of any sort.

How in the world can Dell sue the governments of several countries?
I mean, these guys have tanks and jet fighters and stuff.

Dell manufactures nothing. Perhaps excepting Dell logo stickers. Dell is similar to Walmart. What does Dell do but add cost to others manufacturing?
Why does Dell care if the price of LCD panels goes up or down? Dell just adds a few percent of profit to whatever the manufacturer charges.

I'm with Shab. Price fixing is *always* detrimental to the consumer, and if Dell or any company is leading the charge to rid an industry of it, the better. It's bad enough we have industries like the oil and DRAM industry trying to "stabilize" their prices.

Who is determining what a "fair return" is? The market or their rich CEO's in a some resort's back room?

You have no idea what these companies are pulling it, we are talking about a multi-billion dollar industry.

Price fixing is evil no matter who is doing it. Take your personal politics out of it.

who only provide nearly all of the hardware sold in US and Europe, want a fair return on their efforts, it's "anti-competitive".

Yes, *could* be true, but would have to be both egregious and crystal clear.